Welcome To The Drones For Kids and Teens Blog

The #1 youth drone STEM summer program for kids, teens and high school students using drones in and out of the classroom

The Drobots Company started this blog to help inform, update and educate parents and students alike. We want kids and teens to be more engaged with drone technology as well as STEM education all together.

We are strong believers that students learn best when they are able to to (a) get outside and away from the computer (b) spark their internal curiosity through both mind and body in a STEM application and (c) create! Drones for kids and teens was specifically designed to open the door into both the present and the future. Fly away with us as we continue to educate students all over the world to both the application and usefulness of drones and how this technology will have an impact on how kids, teens and high school students to create, to think, and to solve.

Apple Betting On Drones To Make Maps Better?

According to Bloomberg, the company is reportedly planning to use drones to quickly update Maps with fresh data, like road conditions, street sign changes, and construction updates, and other information that car cameras would have difficulty photographing.

Last fall, Apple applied for permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly its drones for commercial purposes, back when that was restricted. Now the FAA has guidelines in place for commercial drones, but the rules prevent companies from flying drones over buildings or people.

Apple isn’t just trying to beat Google at its own outdoor mapping game. The company is also trying to compete with indoor mapping, which would let you use your iPhone to find your way around large, busy buildings like airports and museums. The technology comes courtesy of indoor mapping startup Indoor.io, which Apple bought last year.

Apple has been interested in indoor location-tracking for years, using the iBeacon protocol with indoor positioning to allow venues to send notifications when you’re near a physical Bluetooth touchstone (and have Bluetooth turned on with the venue’s app installed). We saw this in action with MLB’s At the Ballpark app at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, back in 2013.

Google Maps already offers indoor maps, and it’s unclear if Apple’s will be more sophisticated or simply on par with the competition. Either way, Apple’s rumored Maps upgrades are significant, and a sign that Tim Cook and co. really are betting big on services—even ones that don’t contribute outright to the company’s bottom line.

The Flying Sensor Network That Could (Finally!) Save Our Planet

Surveillance drones don’t have to be creepy. They can also help protect endangered animals and their habitats.

Sea Shepherd got its first drone in 2011 — a fixed wing aircraft donated by a recycling plant in New Jersey. They planned to use the drone to film for their show on the Animal Planet channel, but it immediately became apparent how useful a remotely operated aircraft was in waging Sea Shepherd’s particular kind of war. It was easier and safer to use than the manned helicopter on board. It could fly in foggy weather without imperiling lives. Maybe most important, it allowed Sea Shepherd to more easily gather footage — evidence of what they say is illegal activity.

Ever since they got that first drone, except for one year, the Japanese whalers have succeeded in catching less than one-third of their quota, Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd’s founder, told me.

“It’s already proven to be quite revolutionary,” Watson told me. He’s since outfitted all the organization’s ships with drones. And he’s thinking about getting rid of his helicopters. “The only way to combat is to have the best technology we can deploy,” Watson said. “So far, this is the best.”

Welcome to wildlife conservation in the 21st century. Drones have changed warfare. They’ve transformed cinematography (and peeping tommery). If Amazon gets its way, they may soon disrupt package delivery. And now, the conservation community is abuzz with the potential of drones — of unmanned aircraft to fight poachers, monitor wildlife and help with basic biology research, like counting birds.

Drones have surveyed orangutan habitats in Borneo, watched over rhinos in South Africa, and herded elephants in Kenya — to keep them away from areas where they’re likely to get shot. Elephants don’t have much to fear in the wild, except, of course, poachers. But they loathe drones, whose whirring propellers mimic the sound of bees. And elephants happen to be terrified of bees.There’s even talkof arming drones with pellets of capsaicin, the hot stuff in chili peppers, to better herd animals.

To the degree that drones really can help save wildlife, they’re arriving none too soon — especially for the endangered species that are frequent targets of poaching. Poaching of wildlife has accelerated alarmingly in the past decade. During that time, the killing of rhinos increased fifty-fold, according to the World Wildlife Fund. By one estimate from a few years ago, three elephants are killed every hour in Africa.

Drone Delivery of Packages Coming Soon

Auto maker investing about $560 million to design electric vans that can host aerial deliveries

Daimler AG said on Wednesday it would join with U.S. startup Matternet to develop drones for its delivery vans and invest €500 million ($562 million) over the next five years in designing electric, networked vans.

Just as car manufacturers are pushing into electric vehicles, logistics companies are turning to drones as a way to make parcel delivery faster and more efficient amid increasing urbanization and the growing popularity of e-commerce. Amazon.com Inc.,China’s JD.com Inc. and Germany’s Deutsche Post DHL AG tested drone deliveries, even though regulatory hurdles have kept the technology largely grounded.

Daimler said its concept was “unique within the van sector,” but the idea of launching drones from the rooftops of delivery vans is also one the U.S. Postal Service has been considering. Last year when the USPS called for bids to update its fleet, Ohio company Workhorse Group Inc. proposed adding drones to USPS vehicles. A spokesman for Workhorse, which has developed drones that can navigate to a specified delivery point from a vehicle’s roof, said the USPS contract had not yet been decided.

Kids Can Now Build a LEGO Drone with Flybrix Kits

A San Francisco startup today began selling build-a-drone kits for kids age 14 and up comprised of: LEGO bricks, boom arms and motors that don’t require soldering, and other off the shelf and Flybrix-designed parts.

Flybrix drones are lightweight and meant to be flown indoors. They can be operated with a Bluetooth flight control app for iOS or Android smartphones, or a manual flight controller purchased from the company.

Flybrix drones are also, notably, “crash-friendly,” meaning they can be re-assembled time and again as kids experiment with their designs, and learn how to pilot them.

Co-founders of the startup, Amir Hirsch, Robb Walters and Holly Kasun, want to get teens, or younger kids with adult supervision, interested in things like geometry, aerodynamics and electrical engineering.

Alphabet and Chipotle Are Bringing Burrito Delivery Drones to Campus

In what’s sure to be a college student’s dream come true, drones will soon be delivering burritos on the campus of Virginia Tech.

What’s that up in the air at Virginia Tech? It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No…it is a burrito? Project Wing, Chipotle, and Virginia Tech are teaming up to deliver burritos throughout the campus.

Project Wing will use self-guided hybrids that can fly like a plane or hover like a helicopter. They will make deliveries from a Chipotle food truck to assess the accuracy of navigation systems and how people respond.

The devices will hover overhead and lower the Chipotle edibles with a winch.

Part of the experiment will be to see how well the packaging protects the chow and keeps it warm. Food was selected as the demonstration cargo because it’s a challenge. The company is already at work on a more sophisticated second version of the aircraft that won’t be used in the tests, Vos said.

New Parrot Fixed Wing Disco Drone Takes Flight Next Month

Half a year after debuting a prototype at CES, Parrot’s finally ready to show off the final version of its next radical entry in the rapidly expanding drone space.

The Disco marks a noted departure from both the French company’s earlier efforts and the consumer drone space in general, trading in the standard rotored configuration for a fixed wing variety designed to soar speeds up to 50 miles an hour for as long as 45 minutes.

The Disco weighs around 1.6 pounds and is constructed largely of a flexible, rugged foam. The single rear propeller does the heavy lifting, and inside you’ll find a slew of on-board sensors, including GPS/GLONASS, a barometer, magnetometer, gyroscope and accelerometer.

Google has been granted a patent for a mobile telepresence system powered by H-shaped drones.

Many drones come with cameras, but Google thinks a drone with a projector could be the answer to mobile telepresence conferencing. Telepresence systems of the type sold by HP, Cisco, and Polycom may offer a more realistic virtual meeting space, but as Google notes, the right equipment needs to be at both ends, usually at a fixed location.

Google thinks it can get around this problem with the help of drones equipped with everything that a telepresence system features, including cameras, microphones, projectors, speakers, and a display. The company notes that a remotely-controlled robot can deliver a mobile telepresence experience but argues that robots can’t, for example, climb stairs: they’re clumsy and energy-guzzlers. However, its unmanned quadcopter however could provide “significant improvements” in speed, maneuverability, energy consumption, and facilitate access to cramped spaces.

Disney to Start Using Drones At Theme Parks In Future

Disney filed a patent for a UAV based projection system, which it intends to use in its extravagant light shows held nightly at its theme parks.

Get ready for the best shows for kids and parents by way of drones at Disney!

The patent features multiple variations of a drone, projector, and reflector combination with the key feature being the reflector is made out of mesh and acts as a rear projection surface. Disney’s main use for the final device would be for 3D projection mapping, where 2D images are mapped to structures, and other light shows common in its parks. The use of the drone allows them to develop new displays without having to install light fixtures on the grounds.

Beyond entertainment, the system,”opens new frontiers for aerial advertising capabilities and for other applications such as rapid dissemination of emergency information,” the patent adds.

World’s Fastest Consumer Drone Goes 85 MPH and Records 4K Video

Experience incredible speed! See the world like never before!

True racing technology in the palm of your hand!

Below is a recorded video from Bogdan, the founder of Tanky Drone. Bogdan created this video to provide responses from the camper questions that were submitted this week at Drobots Company Drone Summer Camps. The students asked him questions via email and Bogdan responded via video. Thank you Bogdan and thank you Tanky Drone!

Photography drones, such as the DJI Phantom, are perfect for doing what they do—take smooth and steady videos—but you don’t get to fly them, they fly themselves. You merely get to suggest where they should go. If you want to push a camera around through the air those drones are perfect. However, Tanky is different!

World’s Fastest Consumer Drone Goes 85 MPH and Records 4K Video

A Former Pro Racer Just Built The Drone Of His Dreams

Wow! Check out what this 18 year old is doing under the fellowship of Peter Thiel. It’s not heading off to college that is for sure!

George Matus was 11 years old when he flew his first drone. “I was immediately hooked,” the young man tells me with a grin. By age 16 he was competing as a professional drone racer and acting as a test pilot for new aircraft. Now 18, he recently finished high school but decided to defer college, opting instead to pursue a fellowship offer from tech billionaire Peter Thiel. He used that money to start his own company, Teal, which today is launching its first product, a consumer facing drone that a beginner can easily fly with an iPhone to capture 4K video.